Successfully Navigating the Turbulent Skies of a Large-Scale Erp

Bombardier is the world’s only manufacturer of both planes and trains, it is present in more then 60 countries and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Both Bombardier Aerospace & Bombardier transportation employ over 70 000 and posted a revenue of over 18. 3 billion in the fiscal year ended December 31,2011. The case presents the implementation of an ERP system in Bombardier, along with all the major changes the corporation undertook for a successful transition. In the analysis I will address the challenges faced by Bombardier, the challenges associated with the integration of the large system & its benefits.I will also address how the project team managed and communicated it’s vision amongst the firm and how the new roles were defined, communicated & understood. The analysis will focus up to and including the implementation of the system. As the company grew over the years, Bombardier’s strategy of growth by acquisition turned the firm into a â€Å"textbook s ilo organization†. This created problems as systems did not communicate with each other effectively. This inefficiency generated additional costs because the firm had to maintain all the different systems.Another problem, related to the operation of the aerospace division, was the low visibility of inventory and lack of integration between the old computer systems. This caused process delays, low inventory turns & price inconsistency from suppliers. The Bombardier Manufacturing System (BMS) , the group of information technology applications that had been supporting Bombardier Aerospace’s manufacturing activities, had not evolved to cope with the fast changes. The BMS capabilities had become limited. We can assume that Bombardier was not a fully integrated company at that time because there was a clear lack of coordination and unity.An example would be how employees would create numerous stand-alone databases throughout the company on operations specific to their functio n without realizing the negative effect it causes to the rest of the organization such as data errors or omissions. But Bombardier Aerospace was working on becoming an integrated Company, as the Vice-President of Operations and Project Sponsor was aware of the challenges and created a Vision: â€Å"One Company†: To align the operations of its acquired companies by implementing common roles and responsibilities.To meet this enormous challenge, a Enterprise Resource planning (ERP) system was first implemented at Bombardier Aerospace. The first attempt in 2000 was a costly failure. The implementation of this technology without the corresponding organizational changes was the main reason of its failure. The factors that contributed to its breakdown are identified as : Focusing the implementation on inappropriate business processes, an outdated company vision, a weak sponsorship model, insufficient involvement of internal employees and having too many third-party consultants emplo yed on the project.In October 2001, Bombardier Manufacturing Information System (BMIS) was created by the Senior Project Manager to establish a new integrated manufacturing system. BMIS was the first project launched with a vision of an integrated organization. Once completed it would support 9,500 users over seven sites and the main benefit of the system’s integration is the cost savings of over $1. 171 billion and a one time reduction in material inventory of $219 million. To Create & implement such a system, a blue print of the operation was created.An integration team was formed; There role was to identify integration points where a process crossed functional boundaries, and independently resolve integration points that could potentially cause disagreement. The functional council took high –level decisions regarding the design of the projects. The BMIS team requested that the plants provide them with experienced employees for the design phase. Some problems that th e BMIS project manager was concerned about is that there was a lack of strong business employees, although empowered to make decisions and complete the design had to constantly go back to the business in order to validate.Another problem was the documentation that was requested by the BMIS team were not provided. As a result, the Design phase ran over schedule by several months. Bombardier Aerospace decided to go with a progressive implementation of the system. BMIS would be implemented one plant at a time starting with there newest facility, the Mirabel Plant. The Critical success factor for the project was the â€Å" Vanilla† approach to system design: It was important that the first roll-out or implementation of the system at the Mirabel plant to be a controlled one.Bombardier limited the scope of the first roll-out one section at a time and trained the rest of the shop accordingly. This approach would siege the system to one part of the plant and identify lessons for subs equent roll-outs. The Restructuring of the procurement function plays an important role in realizing the vision of the BMIS. As was stated earlier, one of the problems the firm faced was the low visibility of inventory. By improving the visibility, you can reduce inventory levels that would improve liquidity and reduce cycle time.It was decided mid-project to restructure the procurement function, it was undertaken in parallel with the implementation of the BMIS and was called the Material Resource Planning Technology. The main idea for procurement was to minimize the total acquisition cost and overall procurement costs by concentrating on a centralized and strategic sourcing of inventory. This big change would require the training of new employees and have them ready to use the new system.Data Management was also a parallel project, it can be divided in 2 activities: 1. Data Cleansing: identified as a major risk of the project. 2. Data Preparation: Extraction, mapping, staging and c onsolidation of data. Before going live it was important to prepare the users in utilizing the new system. Due to the pressure of staying on schedule, training were delivered to users in a short period of time which wasn’t effective because transmitting such a large amount of information in a sort period resulted in a negative effect.

What is happening to the Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world which covers over five and half a million square kilometers. Over half of the Amazon is located in Brazil but also in South American countries; Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Guyana, Bolivia and Suriname. (Science Kids, 2013). During the past 40 years, 20% of the Amazon rainforest has been cut down, this percentage could be higher but was not put in account due to logging. this causes damage and shows that there is less seen cuts. Scientists says that 20% trees could be lost in the next two decades.  (National Geographic, 1996)The Amazon gets worse and worse every time it is observed. The main cause for this is deforestation. This investigation will show what is happening to the Amazon Region and what could be the management for it. Socially, the main cause for rainforest destruction is deforestation which is done by humans, who are at fault for it. Deforestation is the process of cutting down, damaging and burning a rainforest. Every year an area of a rainforest is cut down and destroyed. The plants and animals that used to live there die or adapt somewhere else.There are many reasons are for wood, agriculture, land for poor farmers, cattle, paper, road construction and extraction of minerals and energy. In 2005 and 2010 the Amazon had the worst droughts ever recorded. Rivers dried up, communities were isolated and land was burned. The smoke interfered with transportation and blocked the formation of rain clouds. This burnt carbon dioxide and worsened the effects in climate change. The flooding of damns and wildfires destroy rainforest and migrants clear the land to keep some for themselves.This shows that people don't really care about how much damage is caused for the rainforest but only about themselves and the things they need to do. (SlideShare, 2013) This affects the rainforest because if people keep damaging the rainforest, there will be no rainforest left. Economically whats h appening the Amazon is mostly because of logging, fires, mining, agriculture, cattle ranching and currency devaluation. The Amazon Rain forest is cleared out to raise cattle and to produce beef, this means that many different species of animals are losing their habitats and this leads to extinction.The human population is growing faster and faster and this means we need more food. The Amazon is society's best way of clearing out cattle to produce food. As the rainforest is losing its ability to stay green because of fires but this means that more trees, plants and parts of the forest are being killed. (SlideShare, 2013) One of the main causes of the rainforest destruction is logging. Many types of wood is used for the furniture, floor, constructions and tropical forests in Africa, Asia and South America.When people buy certain wood products they are usually from the Amazon, this causes destruction of the Amazon Rainforest. Poor farmers in the world rely on clearing rainforest land t o feed their families. Without access to better agriculture land most people burn and clear patches of forest land. Agricultural companies have started clearing more rainforest than before, specially in the amazon where places are converted into soybean farms. Apparently South America will have an area of farmland coming for the Amazon rainforest.This means that it will cause more damage and destruction for the Amazon. (Mongabay. com, 2005). This affects everyone that like specific woods that come from the Amazon, because if tree's keep getting cut down no one will get the furniture, floor or constructions they want. Scientist say 4C rise will kill 85% of the Amazon Rainforest, even small temperate would cause 20-40% within 100 years. Global warming will wreck attempts tom save the Amazon as, there is a prediction one-third of trees are killed by small temperature's rises.  (The Guardian, 2013)This means that climate is a big issue in the Amazon and that it is affecting everything within in. If the climate continues killing the Rainforest, under 300 years the whole Amazon would be destroyed. There are possible strategies for a sustainable management for the Amazon rainforest. These include; Agro-forestry- growing tree's and crops at the same times. This means that farmers can take advantage of shelters from canopy of trees. It will also prevent soil erosion. Selective logging- trees are cut down when they reach are particular height.This allows young trees to have a longer life span. The forest will be fresh fore 30-50 years. Protect particular area's from exploitation. This saves some wildlife and parts of the forest and does not let humans invade on them. Monitoring- use technology/photography to check no illegal activities take place and everything is in order. Afforestation- opposite of deforestation, if tree's are cut they are replace to maintain the canopy. Education – make sure people who explore the Amazon understand their boundaries, actions and consequences. (Bitesize, 2013)

Deception By the Investigating Officer in the Investigative, Research Paper

Deception By the Investigating Officer in the Investigative, Interrogative, and Testimonial Processes - Research Paper Example Getting criminals to confessing their crimes turns out to be a problematic affair; as a result, investigating officers are involving the use of deception in obtaining the necessary information. According to Justice without Trial, when an investigator perceives the case law as an impediment to his main duty of apprehending criminals, in most cases, he endeavours to construct the facade of compliance instead of allowing the offender to get away from apprehension. Permitting officers sworn to maintain the law to outwit that same law is similar to planting the seeds of its obliteration. Apart from that widespread, along with openly acknowledged, deception demeans the trustworthiness together with perception of the police, as well as the whole criminal justice system. There are numerous reports of investigators lying while on the stand, which is an emergent problem. Apparently, police perjury is not only pervasive, but also a serious cancer that is invading the criminal justice system. Wh ile, on the other hand, utilizing deception in entrapping offenders into admitting their complicity turns out to be a means of downgrading police work into trickery (Vrij, 2000). There are substantial arguments that, at the primary stages of investigations, investigators have to circumvent the law in apprehending, while, at the same time, convicting criminals, ongoing avoidance of the law is an illustration of a lack of respect for the same laws which investigators get sworn to maintain. Therefore, tactics such as police sting operations used in capturing burglars, fabrication of nonexistent witnesses for the duration of interrogations, as well as Abscam-type operations, are ideal examples of deception which are in most cases routinely applied by investigators. Therefore, the given notion that often the ends justify the means as applied by the investigators during the processes of investigation, interrogation and testimonial are wrong for a number of reasons; firstly, it is immoral since wrong is wrong, and, secondly, it is illegal. Consequently, investigators must find a way of working within a severe and agonizingly conflicting environment without tampering with their moral order that demands for specific forms of fidelities (Pollock, 2011). Question Two Deception within the criminal justice system degrades the image of the legal system, as well as the equitable carriage of justice (Yeschke, 2002). In instances, whereby the criminal justice system gets the permission of engaging in immoral, along with even criminal behavior, then there comes a tie when the system together with those engrossed in it ceases being superior to the criminals they are attempting to entrap. Apparently, the investigator lies since lying turns out to be a routine way of dealing with legal impediments; this is because the law allows the investigator to lie during the investigative stage, at a time when he is not totally convinced whether the suspect is a criminal or not, but prohibits lying concerning procedures at the testimonial stage, whereby the investigator is certain of the guiltiness of the accused. This is because the investigator characteristically weighs the short-term disutility of the action of suppressing evidence, rather than the long-term utility of the law’s due process for protecting, as well as enhancing the nobility of the citizen under investigation. Within the criminal

Courtroom proceedings Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Courtroom proceedings - Research Paper Example County courts essentially handle legal issues on a county level. They are also known as people’s courts since people within a county are inclined to take up legal issues first in a county court (Baum, 2012). County-level courts could handle various criminal and civil issues. This type of courts mainly focus on issues which are minor as higher courts handle major issues for instance felonies along with major civil matters. County-level courts handle cases such as family law, probate, traffic violations, violations of village or city laws, and juvenile matters whenever no separate juvenile court system exists. Court sessions are usually overseen by a judge, and judges must be citizens of the counties wherein they work. The County-Level court has the jurisdiction to hear specific types of appeals for instance appeals from some decisions made by local authority (Cross, 2007). District Courts: District Courts in the United States are the trial courts of the federal court system. Th e District courts, within boundaries established by the United States Constitution and the United States Congress, have jurisdiction to hear virtually every category of federal cases, along with both criminal and civil issues. ... There are 2 special trial courts with national jurisdiction over particular cases: the first one is the Court of International Trade (CIT) which will address cases that involve international trade and customs matters. Second is the United States Court of Federal Claims (USCFC) which essentially has the jurisdiction over the majority of claims for money damages against the U.S. In a district court, the process of appeal begins by filing an appeal notice with the district court clerk within the duration provided by the law following the entry of the ruling sought to be reviewed. The appeal notice will specify the party who is taking the appeal, designate the judgment, or part thereof, appealed from and the date of its entry. It will also specify the statute(s) under which the appeal is being taken (U.S. Courts, 2013). Courts of Appeal: The United States Courts of Appeals are the intermediate federal appellate courts. They essentially alleviate the United States Supreme Court the burden of having to handle every appeal from cases decided by district courts. The Courts of Appeal have the jurisdiction of reviewing every final decision and some interlocutory decisions of the district courts. The Courts of Appeal also review and enforce order of many federal administrative agencies (Baum, 2012). A characteristic appeal from a district courtroom decision will comprise the district court record, oral arguments, as well as supporting arguments. A decision reached by any Court of Appeal is final unless the case is accepted for review by the Supreme Court of the United States. In essence, the 94 judicial districts in the United States are organized into twelve regional

Personal Essays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personal Essays - Essay Example A community draws strength from its environment. I am passionate about the environment, and its contribution to the betterment of my community. I have served as a volunteer with the Central Oregon Trail Alliance, the Friends of the Deschutes River, and the Smith Rock Parks, getting down to the basics: cleaning, picking up and digging! With Girls On The Run, I have passed on my love for running, as the path to empowerment and self-confidence, to other girls. Living in harmony with nature, and testing the limits of one’s physical and mental endurance, is my way to an inclusive, caring community. My love for traveling, which has taken me to twenty-two countries, has made me appreciate diverse cultures and the underlying goodness of people all over the world. I have studied Spanish for five years, and have spent a summer in beautiful Mexico: it was a learning experience beyond compare. I threw myself into everything, from salsa to mole sauce. My seventy-year-old hostess, who lived, shopped and cooked independently, was also a devout Catholic and doting mother, and a revelation to me! I have come to acknowledge that there is no one, cast-iron, way to do the right thing. My travels in the Middle East, particularly in Egypt, brought home to me the sad fact that the gender bias, which is so alien to us Americans, is very much a part of the life of women in many parts of the world. As a woman of no religious affiliation, with uncovered head and independent attitude, I was dismayed and even intimidated, by the hostility I sometimes encountered.

INTRO TO THIRD SECTOR Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

INTRO TO THIRD SECTOR - Article Example Many nonprofit organizations have been negatively impacted by the bad economic times in recent times, which have lowered donation income. This paper discusses different concepts associated with running and managing a nonprofit organization. Nonprofit Management Focusing on the importance of managing stakeholder and relationships in nonprofit organizations, some of the most important stakeholder groups include volunteers, suppliers, lenders, government, and the community. Nonprofit organizations face similar accountability issues as private businesses. Some of the accountability issues nonprofits face are fiduciary, legal, professional, and the duty to preserve and serve the public good. Michael in his argument states that, stakeholder groups have a lot of influence over nonprofit organizations. Managers of nonprofit organizations must clearly understand the expectations of stakeholder groups. It is imperative for managers to keep the lines of communication open at all times with its stakeholders. Some of the mechanisms that are used by nonprofits to facilitate communication with stakeholders are conferences, advisory committees, member surveys, newsletters, and data sheets (Michael, 2013). Research Statement and methodology From perspective point of view we find that, nonprofit organizations provide vital services that markedly contribute to the health of our communities. The goal of this research in regards to Nonprofit Management aspect however, is to find the concrete solutions that should be initiated in such organizations to enhance growth and provision of quality services in our communities. We believe that fundamental organizational and management principles can be used by leaders in the nonprofit sector to strengthen both their systems and service delivery. The Nonprofit Management Program however, provides affordable, practical and accessible information to people working in and with the nonprofit arena, whether they are paid staff, directors, board me mbers, philanthropists or volunteers. It integrates commitment facets to entire community and that’s why this research plays a vital position in analyzing the better things to be considered for better service delivery (Drucker, 2006). Meanwhile, the manager of a nonprofit has control over the relations with its stakeholders. The support of stakeholders can be maintained by satisfying their concerns and meeting their expectations. The effectiveness of a nonprofit organization is dependent on the ability of these entities of maintaining productive relationship with all stakeholder groups. One of the findings of the study performed by the author of the journal article is that when executives use a consistent or thematic approach in dealing with the different stakeholder groups the organization is perceived as more effective. More so, the article provided an interesting discussion of the influence stakeholders have on nonprofit organizations. It is in the best interest of a manag er to maintain constant communication with stakeholders in order to understand their needs. The existence of nonprofit organizations is deeply engrained in the society of the United States as it has deep roots. The Greco-Roman culture places emphasis on community, citizenship, and social responsibility. Two distinct concepts associated with nonprofits are charity and philanthropy. Charity refers to giving intended to attend current human needs, while philanthropy is

Anti-Trust Laws Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Anti-Trust Laws - Essay Example The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), created in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Trade Commission Act into law, is a US government agency tasked with protecting consumers by preventing anti-competitive business practices.In terms of public policy, the FTC has a broad regulatory mandate to reign in organizations judged to have engaged in activities that stifle industry competition, thus eliminating products or services from reaching the marketplace that are overpriced, substandard or lacking in the innovation that true competition would engender.FTC chairpersons have wide discretion regarding the cases pursued by the agency. For example, despite a global antitrust campaign mounted by computer chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices against rival Intel, which is supported by at least two FTC commissioners as well as by trade regulators in Korea and the European Commission, current agency head Deborah P. Majoras recently declined to open a formal investigation into the matt er (Labaton 1).In the FTC case against the Wisconsin Chiropractic Association (WCA), it was alleged that the organization and its executive director Russell A. Leonard violated Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C.  § 45 by conspiring to advise members of the more than 900-member association on how to increase prices for chiropractic services based on new billing codes and to boycott managed care plans in order to receive higher reimbursement rates (â€Å"Complaint†).

Examine the Internet and social media use in a foreign country Essay

Examine the Internet and social media use in a foreign country (report) - Essay Example This shows that internet is a household service that is quite popular in United Arab Emirates. There are, however, some forms internet censorship and restrictions put by the UAE government. The government does not allow any person to use internet to gather people for demonstrations that are not authorized by the government and also defaming the ruler of UAE and state in general is not allowed (BBC, 1). Promotion of prostitution and pornography is also not allowed using the internet (BBC, 1). Gambling is also not allowed in UAE, like most other Muslim countries. All these restrictions of internet use come under internet censorship. Use of social media is also very popular in the country and many users are active on social media. The most popular social media by far is Facebook because more than half of internet users of the country are active on Facebook (Scaria, 1). This is why it can be safely argued that Facebook is highly preferred by internet user of UAE. Mainly the youth is more interested in using Facebook as it provides them with the opportunity to communicate with each other and make new friends. The use of internet in the country is quite common and, therefore, users have developed great trust in internet. Internet is used in UAE for online transactions by many people (MVF Global, 1). Also, there is great potential in the e-commerce industry in UAE as many people want to shop online for services and products (MVF Global, 1). This highlights the fact that internet users in UAE are developed and they do not use internet for general communication and entertainment purposes only. Online transactions happen in UAE showing that the country has sophisticated internet users. All in all, United Arab Emirates is an internet loving nation as majority of the residents of the country use internet regularly. Social media is also very popular and among social networking sites, Facebook is the most popular. There are, however, many

Information Technology in Criminal Justice Systems Research Paper

Information Technology in Criminal Justice Systems - Research Paper Example On law enforcement, such information systems have helped in crime prevention and criminal justice program network, technical cooperation activities, and the development of the criminal justice information aimed at maintaining institutional capacities to respond to requests from member states as well as the general public. Future activities in the Information technology require more funding, planning, and coordination within the crime prevention and criminal justice programs in the realm of criminal justice information and computerization (Dana Spiegel 2009, pg 113). There are potential benefits that will come about with the use of wireless technologies in the criminal justice systems, which will mainly be realized in prosecutions, courts, and the correctional parts of the criminal justice systems. The prosecution will undoubtedly see an improved case output through the computer-based systems to assist with the cases' recording, in detail, and to track progress on each case, thereby triggering reminders when actions fall due. It will also bring about better use of clerical and professional resources as a result of easier recording and collating of information pertaining to different cases.

The Chancery Procedure in the Juvenile Court, in The Child, The Clinic, and the Court Essay Example for Free

The Chancery Procedure in the Juvenile Court, in The Child, The Clinic, and the Court Essay From 1899, the juvenile court has always handle three types of juvenile cases. These cases include: child neglect, abuse and other status offences. Juvenile delinquency cases are unlawful action that is performed by the minors which would therein be crimes if they were partaken by adults. Status offences are on the other hand noncriminal offences which are deemed offences if they are committed by the minors. The common examples of these status offences include running away and truancy. Till 1960s, both noncriminal and criminal behaviors were all considered to be forms of delinquents. Hence the law did not differentiate between delinquents and status offenders. In neglect and child abuse cases, the court will always provide protection for children who are abuse or neglected. In the year 1994, delinquency cases made up to 64% of the total juvenile cases in these courts, with status offences making 15% and neglect and abuse cases making 16% of the total national juvenile court cases. I have discussed all these types of these cases below with the description of these court processes that are involved in the handling of these cases along with the current policy issues which are involved. It is worth noting that though these cases seem to be different from each other, there are some common themes and values which are applied in handling these cases. The most obvious of these is the judges which are handling these cases to note that these children need to be taken care of for their development in making legal decisions making much attention to the legal needs of children along with their families. Secondly, even if the court is one of the institutions that work to the betterment of the families and children, it is posed with a unique and awesome power in delinquency, child abuse cases and the status offences cases. Juvenile court has powers to separate the children from their parents, can also order these minors to live in confined places, also they can end the biol ogical right of relationship between a child and the parent and create for them other new parental rights. As these decisions are deemed to be very serious and fundamental to the well being of children, ensuring these courts possesses adequate resources is very vital as it handles every type of cases. Judges require information, workable facilities and adequate training so that it can be able to handle these cases in the most appropriate manner. Adequate representation of all the involved parties should always be in the court proceedings. All the communities need to have safe, effective program and placements which are available for children coming before the court. As it would be very clear from the subsequent discussion, these courts handle very difficult workloads and involves the most emotion laden and very controversial issues in most parts of the society. Because of this, these decisions have in many cases faced disagreements. The extent to which these cases should be equipped and expanded to equip them with the resources that are required for them to adequately perform their roles has formed basis of many discussions and debates. Lastly, as these courts make decisions which are very vital in the societal development, they are most often the subject of the social media and in most cases form the basis for political platform. So judges should always have the urge to play leadership roles, both in the agencies which serve children and the broader community so as to encourage thoughtful and deliberative approaches to all these problems, instead of other approaches which are reached hastily. Delinquency The juvenile handling of the delinquent case is the one which is always handled by these courts in the general public perception. When unlawful deeds are committed by the minors, these cases are usually brought under these courts as delinquent cases. These cases in most cases include petty theft, misdemeanors, vandalism and also some kind of felonies like robbery and other aggravated assaults. The maximum age handled by these courts are typically determined by the state laws. In the District of Columbia and other 37 states, the maximum age for this is 17 years of age, in other 10 states it is 16 and in the rest 3 this is set to a maximum of 15 years. Currently these courts have become the centre stage for public concern due to the increasing number of crimes and the high rate of juvenile related crimes. Recently these courts have been criticized for their perceived leniency towards their decision on these juvenile delinquents. One of the best examples of this is the inability of these courts failure to impose sentences that go beyond 21 years of age. High visibility and serious violent crimes that are committed by minors have always captured the public interests and attention drawing juvenile offenders’ treatment to get tougher on crimes that have been popular politically for the past twenty years. This public fear of the juvenile court jurisdiction has resulted into some changes in the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts. Since 1992, the executive and the legislative branch in 41 states has hence limited the jurisdiction of the cases that involve chronic offenders, violent and shifted these court cases from their rehabilitative tradition which have involved addressing offenders rather than the offences which has been committed toward a more punitive system which is focused on the offence itself. For instance, 14 states in the year 1990 had to amend their codes to clearly list public safety as the sole purpose of the juvenile justice system; the punishment is listed as either primary or one of the several purposes of the court system in 28 states. The most significant thing that has happened since 1992 is that all but 10 states have structured adult courts in a manner that they can be able to handle juvenile cases. In most of the instances when the minors are convicted in the a dult courts, it really posses a possibility that the minor may be sentenced to the prisons instead of being placed in juvenile facilities that offers rehabilitative programs. Even though the violent juvenile cases grab most of the interest and headlines from the media and tend to have the highest influence on the justice system, most of the juvenile courts handle less serious crimes. Mostly, the highest numbers of cases that are handled by most of the juvenile courts involve cases like vandalism, motor vehicle theft in which they mostly belong to their parents and larceny cases. In 1992, police made a lot of juvenile arrests and contrary to the perception of the public; the most serious charge was a property offence charge in the 57% of the total cases. Offences against persons like assault and robberies comprised of 215 of the total cases, disorder conduct which is a form of public order offence showed to be like 17% of the cases with the 155 being taken by the drug law violation. In spite of the young people being not disproportionately responsible for the most violent crimes, they always commit more than their share of property criminal offences. For instance in the year 1992, the youth aged between 10 to 17 years of age comprised 13 % of the US population and they were responsible for like the same percentage of their population of all the violent crimes which were committed in this year and they were responsible for more than 23% of the property crimes which is more than their proportion portion of their population. Purpose of the research Currently it has been more than 100th anniversary of these juvenile court approaches. This paper will provide an insight for the explanation of the cases that are handled by these courts along with the current trends and issues that have cropped up in these juvenile courts. The main goal of this research paper is to present an apparent description of these courts today and hence address the future challenges along with the recommendations to be adopted. This paper majorly addresses the court’s status and their ability to handle these cases along with the improvements that should be adopted for these courts to be able to partake their roles in the most appropriate manner. The research methodology In my data collection, I will employ both primary and secondary data methods of data collection. Primary methods Census- I will carry out census where I will talk to the many stakeholders and other involved associations and institutions although this method is somehow expensive because of the cost involved. Samples- I will sample out some of the involved people and stakeholders Observation- I will visit some of the juvenile courts to get the real state on the ground. The secondary sources of data collection Questionnaires- I will develop many questionnaires which I will use to get the information required to carry out my research. Surveys- through the questionnaires, I will sample out and send some surveys to the stakeholders and these specialized institutions. Books, web, magazines, journals and other online sources- I will use the already available written materials to get complete insights on this topic. In my data analysis, I will include the following methods of data analysis Content analyzes This is the most simple and widely employed method of data analysis. It can be defined as the systematic description of behavior which asks, who? Where and how? And what questions within a formulated set of rules so as to limit the effects of bias in analysis. It could be the most preferred technique which is employed to analyze semi-structured interviews and cognitive interview testing. Narrative analysis- I will employ narrative analysis to analyze data where I will focus on the people’s stories and how they think about the issue in question. Although I will not treat these stories as the true facts I highly employ them to get how people think and feel about these juvenile courts. 3. Grounded Theory This is the most standard and classical technique that is employed in analyzing social data. It uses hierarchical and systematic data set. It develops a set of inductively derived hypothesis that is grounded on the data. Triangulation In this method of data analysis I will combine both the quantitative and qualitative data analysis to come up with a precise data interpretation. Data presentation In my data presentation, I will employ many methods which would be very appropriate for this data. Frequency distribution table In this method I shall be focusing on the occurrence of a certain variable like a certain facility in the juvenile courts according to each state court system. Graphical methods Here I will try to focus on the relationship of variables in the court system. Charts These will be used to show the extent to which a certain variable has been employed in the courts. References Julian Mack, The Chancery Procedure in the Juvenile Court, in The Child, The Clinic, and the Court (1925), p. 310. Julian Mack, The Juvenile Court, 23 Harv.L.Rev. 104, 119-120 (1909).Shears, Legal Problems Peculiar to Childrens Courts, 48 A.B.A.J. 719, 720 (1962) January 2007 publication, California’s Criminal Justice system.Vitaly Friedman (2008) Data Visualization and Infographics in: Graphics, Monday Inspiration, January 14th, 2008. Lengler, Ralph; Lengler, Ralph. Periodic Table of Visualization Methods Source document

Language The Singapore English English Language Essay

Language The Singapore English English Language Essay The nations which were once part of the British colony now are referred to as new nations and address the importance of English as a language of communication (Platt, Weber Lian:1984:1). Any language has a dual character: it is both means of communication and a carrier of culture.( Burke, Crowley Girvin:2000:436) Language as communication has three aspects or elements. First is the language of real life. A human community really starts its historical being as a community of co-operation in production. Production is co-operation, is communication, is language, is expression of a relation between human beings and it is specifically human. The second aspect is speech imitates language of real life, communication in production. The third aspect is the written sign; imitates the spoken. Writing is representation of sounds with visual symbols. Communication between human beings is the basis and process of evolving culture (lead to heritage). Language as communication and culture are products of each other. Communication creates culture: culture is a means of communication. Language carries culture, and culture carries, particularly through orature and literature, the entire body of values by which we come to perceive ourselves and our place in the world ( Burke, Crowley Girvin:2000:438). New Englishes are used as an official or second language and is the regular language of communication used by a group of people in at least in some areas of everyday activities. The background of new English development consists of areas where education in English meant education in a language unlike the home language of the pupils or languages they may hear around them in street and markets (Platt, Weber Lian:1984:6). Dividing English according to background three different types emerge: local non-English language for wider communication, local English-based pidgin language for wider communication, English-based creoles (Platt, Weber Lian:1984:9). Singapore is an Island made of 4 million, 76.8% Chinese, 13.9% Malay, 7.9% Indian, 1.4% other races (Lim: 2004:2). Singapore is a name derived from the two Malay words, singa meaning Lion and pura meaning city. The Lion city or Singapore has three major ethnicities: Malay, Chinese and Indian. On the other hand it has two minor ethnicities: Eurasians and Europeans. English language plays an important role in uniting these different ethnicities in Singapore (Lorenz: 2006:4). The country has four official languages: Tamil, Chinese Mandarin, English and Malay. All children in Singapore achieve basic competency and reasonable fluency in two of the four official languages, mainly English and another language. Even though English of Chinese Singaporeans is very distinct from Malay Singaporeans they share similar features. For example, for pronunciation egg rhymes with vague but not with peg. For syntax both Chinese and Malay Singaporeans often use will to refer to a regular event and would to express tentativeness. For lexicon, all races use borrowed words such as kiasu (afraid to lose out from Hokkien) and makan (eat, from Malay) (Deterding: 2007:5). Singapore was established part of the British empire in 1819. At that time there were was a small population of Malay farmers living in the area, the immigrants started increasing in number gradually. First, the Chinese and then followed by the Indians. The Indian immigrants were small in number and many of them were teachers, this made their influence on Singapore English very distinct (Smith Forman:1997:2). British colonization of the Lion City, was not only physical it was mental as well. Important area of domination of colonialism was mental universe of colonized: the control, though culture, of how people perceived themselves and their relationship with the real world(Burke, Crowley Girvin:2000:438-439). The goal of the mental colonization was to take control of the language of the people. The language through which they are defined because it is the carrier of their culture (Burke, Crowley Girvin:2000:436-437). The introduction of English to Singapore was during the colonial period. As part of the British empire, there were changes reinforced especially related to the educational system, so as to ensure the continuity of the English language. In schools the first English teachers were native speakers, but as the colony grew and more schools were established, local English teachers were recruited from whom were educated in the colony schools (Platt, Weber Lian:1984:3). The availability of education through English medium resulted in people speaking a whole range of different speech varieties from creole to a type close to standard English. This situation was called post-creole speech continuum. Speech between people who speak standardized English and those of higher education unlike speech between people of no formal education speaking creole or modified creole. Speech between people using standardized English and highly educated can be considered as new English (Platt, Weber Lian:1984:8). Pidgins are simplified languages excluding the standardized features such as verb tenses, difference between subject and object pronoun. Speakers of an English-based creole were taught English in schools in some parts of the world. A creole is a speech variety that has developed from pidgin (Platt, Weber Lian:1984:7). New Varieties of English refer to the varieties of the language spoken or written by a group of people. Criteria for New English: developed through an education system, developed in area where native variety of English was not spoken language by most of population, used for range of functions among those who speak or write it in the region where it is used, has become localized or nativized (Platt, Weber Lian:984:2-3). Singapore English is considered natvized is due to the fact that is used widely and serves many functions. Part of the grammatical system in Singapore is the passive voice. Colloquial Singapore English contains two specific passive structures, the so-called kena passive and the give passive. The give and kena- constructions are derived from the languages of Chinese and Malay respectively (Lorenz:2006:3). Analyzing Singapore English, it can be divided into Standard Singapore English and Singlish. The Standard Singapore English is similar to the British or American Standard English. While the Singlish is a compound word formed from Singaporean and English, thus it is English-based Creole spoken colloquially in Singapore (Lorenz: 2006:5). In colloquial Singapore English, there are four types of passive constructions. The regular passive with the auxiliary be and get passive. It is a superstrate language with English origin. Furthermore, there are two passive- like constructions, the kena passive of Malay origin and the give passive of Chinese roots. These two passive constructions form the main substrate languages. These two constructions are distinctive of the Colloquial Singapore English, unlike the get passive and the regular passive which can be found in both Standard English and Colloquial Singapore English. The following example to elaborate (Lim 2004:97-98): John (was) scolded by his boss; the passive auxiliary is normally be as demonstrated in this example which is identical in structure to the passive to Standard British or American English except for the copula verbs optionality. John got scolded by his boss; this construction is the so-called get passive. In most cases get has no expressed animate agent, however in this example get with an animate agent (by his boss) is not unknown. Downings (1996:2003) research confirmed the general view that get passives are typically agentless. She argues that the get passive construction carries with it additional meanings of causation and responsibility which are absent from the be-passive. In formal style, the get passive is avoided. Even in colloquial English it is much more uncommon than the passive with auxiliary be. John kena scolded by his boss; an example of kena passive. The kena passive is like the English passive shown in the first example semantically it patterns with the give passive which we can see in the next example. John give his boss scold; give in this example is used as a normal verb( Lorenz: 2006:6). Lexical innovation are visible as linguistic processes which introduce word-stock changes of a language. Common processes include: affixation (feminism, ageism, heightism), compounding (callgirl, downsize, born-again), clipped forms (sitcom, cab), backformations (typewrite, burgle, stinge/stint), blending (smog, motel, cineplex), grammatical shift (to chair, to head), common words from proper names (platonic, Machiavellian) and borrowing (loanwords). Singapore offers an example of a country where spontaneous daily interaction among speakers of several languages over a period of time has led to lexical innovation processes. Loanwords freely enter the lexicon from all the background languages (songkok, cheongsam, sari) as well as compounds unique to the context of Singapore such as orchid dress and orchid shirt. Semantic shifts also occur (e.g. deadline to dateline) and also some semantic extensions (stay and live are used interchangeably to mean the same thing). These lexical items ar e new emergent forms some of which have been recognized and identified but not yet fully analyzed and codified (85-86). To get deeper insight of the language three English newspapers texts published from 1991 to 1994 were analyzed. The Straits Times (ST), The Business Times(BT), and The New Paper (NP). ST is morning daily close to 1 million readers, BT has small and focused readership coming from the finance and industry sectors, NP is an afternoon tabloid that caters to a wide and general readership by deliberately using less specialized terms and including more basic vocabulary items, especially those used by Singaporeans in general (86). Compounds in Singapore English are unique of cultural meanings or Singaporean concerns which it reflects. Many of the lexical innovations are found in reference to food and utensils used in preparation of food. It also refers to dress, buildings or physical landscape, and relationships. fish head curry: But imagine building up an apetite for tandoori chicken and finding fish head curry on your plate (89). birds nest: Genuine birds nest is a delicacy too expensive to be found in most hawker centers. chili crab: There Singapores gold medal heroes out away giant helpings of chili crab. Fishball: Ah Liang ran a popular fishball guo tiau (kway teow) stall at Jahlan Batu. Loveletter: why complain when like the feast of pineapple tarts, kuey bankit and loveletters you get everywhere, you get a galaxy of stars at cinema (90). Utensils: Claypot: this is a traditional Chinatown recipe, of rice and meat cooked in a claypot. tiffin carrier: Sogo has a delightful three-tiered tingkat (tiffin carrier) tray. Kwali: Remove all except a couple of tablespoons of the oil from the kwali. Wok: Gentle kwangs on the wok and gentle soothing cooking motions are especially useful to punctuate twists of plots and also help stimulate tear ducts (92). Dress: orchid dress: The designer of this creation spent two hours sketching orchids at the Bontanie Gardens before she was satisfied enough to start drawing out the dress. It was yet another attempt to redetine the orchid dress. Japanese slippers: He wore a singlet and bermudas and Japanese slippers. baju kurong: Baju kurong is a must-wear for Malay women on Hari Raya, and the show displayed traditional as well as updated versions of the baju kurong. sarong and songkok: A quick change, then dressed in sarong and songkok, members would head for Friday prayers at the nearby Sultan Mosque (93). Buildings: void deck (93): There are Cosy Corners à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ each with a kitchen, toilet and Tv area à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ in the void desks of four blocks for the residents to mingle. terrace apartments (96): The project comprisescondominium units, terrace apartments and a clubhouse in Johor Baru. People and relationships: people bonding: Spirits roused by the Singapore Cheer, the show of Singaporean solidarity was visible proof of the people bonding that Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong had spoken of in his National Day Message. confinement dish/dish: Says Ng Soing Mui in her book The Chinese Pregnany and Confinement Diet.. (96). Some of the terms used in Singapore English may sometimes be misunderstood by speakers from other countries because of the Semantic shifts that occurred. For example, Australians might find the describtion of windy for homes as a negative feature in a for sale advertisement but Singaporeans consider windy as breezy and therefore a positive feature. The term bungalow as used in Singapore is positive, and this particularly unit of dwelling is the most highly sought and priced on the property market. But in the American context, it could refer to shack or a hovel. Examples of semantic shifts: bungalow: Residents of neighborhood say another vacant blue bungalow is also being used as a teen hideway. stay vs. live : Failure to stay within the deficit may endanger plans to get new loans from abroad. Some of them are regular customers and some are those who live nearby who come to dispose of cans and paper (Kawaguchi, Minegishi Durand:2009:96-97). Teachers and language educators should be well informed of the distinctions between lexical terms in standard international English and the innovative forms that they have taken in standard Singapore English. For example, a SSE bath is cold water, while a SBrhE bath is a hot tub. In SBrE bungalows are often located at the seaside and are popular as retirement homes for old people because they have no stairs (Brown 1999:38). In Singapore, the meaning of bungalow has been extended to form its original to detached dwelling not necessarily single single storey to mean a large private house. In SSE people get burned while doing foolish acts such as investing in stock markets during uncertain times, while in SBrE, It is the fingers that get burned doing similar foolhardiness (Kawaguchi, Minegishi Durand:2009:99). Distinct developments and innovations are recognizeable on both fronts, the standard and the non-standard varieties of Singapore English because English is used both as an international lingua franca as well as a national lingua franca by Singaporeans (Kawaguchi, Minegishi Durand:2009:99-100). The most colloquial varieties are used among friends, families, relatives and work mates. Singaporeans are aware that their many local terms and expressions used in day to day spontaneous interactions such as the ubiquitous use of pragmatic particles ( lah, hor, meh, ah, is it etc) as well as lexical items such as goondu (from the Tamil, to mean a fool), gabra (from Malay to mean, easily shaken and panicky) may make them mainly unintelligible to others from outside Singapore. They would most likely not use these lexical items with outsiders. However, they are sometimes unaware that some lexical innovations in their SSE may give rise to some miscommunication in international conversations (Kawaguchi, Minegishi Durand:2009:100). The distinctive cultural identity must show through the new texts, spoken as well as written, and the new writing of cultures. Singapore is multilingual and multiracial has a local educated local variety of English that is internationally intelligible , this variety has not been codified. It had been serving as an intra-nationally lingua franca for the different ethnic groups. It is used in daily social exchange processes. It gained institutional support and has been used as a medium of instruction. It carries Singapore identities and context in Singaporean text in English (Smith Forman:1997:176-177). Multilingual populations have a greater linguistic threshold and are sharper in their linguistic reflexes. Innovations mean keeping abreast not achieving purification. To accept that innovation is an essential characteristic of World Englishes is to recognize its implicitly that borrowings, loan words and new collocations (grammar and phraseology) are inescapable (Smith Forman:1997:178). Depth, Rigidity, and Opacity form one end of the spectrum; Breadth, Flexibility and Transparency form the other end. These features will ensure vital, volatile and vibrant new Englishes with unique expressions such as found in Singapore English: choose, choose, choose. Choose the whole shop and then dont buy or people bonding or incense burning bins and confinement servants (Smith Forman:1997:179).

Irish Immigration 18001880 Essay -- essays papers

Irish Immigration 18001880 INTRODUCTION The history of Ireland "that most distressful nation" is full of drama and tragedy, but one of the most interesting stories is about what happened to the Irish during the mid-nineteenth century and how millions of Irish came to live in America (Purcell 31). Although the high point of the story was the years of the devastating potato famine from 1845 to 1848, historians have pointed out that immigrating from Ireland was becoming more popular before the famine and continued until the turn of the twentieth century. In the one hundred years between the first recording of immigrants in 1820 and the passing of immigration restrictions in 1924, over four and one half million Irish immigrated to the United States. HOW THEY PAID TO COME TO AMERICA Most of the pre-famine immigrants were single men who found jobs as laborers in the North and Northeast (Purcell 32). Although these were low paying jobs, they were still better than what they had in Ireland. Another thing typical of the Irish immigrants in the pre-famine years was something called the chain migration (Purcell 36). The first immigrants found jobs, saved most or all of their money, and sent money or tickets for sailing on the ships to relatives in the old country. By very hard work, immigrants made it possible to pay for their entire family to follow them to America. To save up all of the passage money was very difficult but they worked hard and did it. Many immigrants from other countries also used the chain migration idea, and it is still common for immigrants to use this system. However, the Irish were the first to use chain migration in such a big way. THE LAWS OF IMMIGRATION During the 200 years that this ... ...live in a free land, and a more full appreciation of the life we lead today, as well as a thankfulness to those who, long ago, paved the way. Bibliography: WORKS CITED Anderson, Kelly. Immigration. San Diego: Lucent, 1993. Danilov, Dan. Immigrating to the USA.1st ed. British Columbia: Self-Counsel, 1978. Danilov, Dan. Immigrating to the USA. 5th ed. British Columbia: Self-Counsel, 1989. Gmelch, Sharon. Irish Life and Traditions. Dublin: O'Brien, 1986. Griffin, William. The Irish Americans. Hong Kong: Hugh Lauter Levin, 1998. "Immigrants." November 1993. 10 November 1998 . Long, Robert Emmet.Immigration. Dublin: H. W. Wilson, 1996. Purcell, L. Edward. Immigration. Phoenix: Oryx, 1995. Reimers, David. The Immigrant Experience. New York: Chealsea House Publishers, 1989. Sandler, Martin. Immigrants. New York: Eagle, 1995.

Workplace Violence Essay -- Workplace Health and Safety

Workplace Violence Workplace violence has existed throughout history. However, historical documentation of workplace violence is vague and sometimes non-existent. Documented workplace violence is believed to have existed during the Roman Empire, the Renaissance Era, and it continues today. It seems unfortunate, but as long as a â€Å"society† exists, workplace violence will more than likely exist. Therefore, employers must understand: the history of workplace violence, the effects it has on the organization, the reasons why it occurs, the warning signs, and ways to prevent it from occurring. Most importantly, it is the responsibility of the Manager, to not only understand workplace violence, but to ensure that all employees understand the seriousness of workplace violence and to make sure that they have a safe working environment. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), workplace violence is any physical assault, threatening behavior or verbal abuse occurring in the work setting. It includes, but is not limited to beatings, stabbing, suicides, shootings, rapes, near suicides, psychological traumas such as threats, obscene phone calls, an intimidating presence, and harassment of any nature such as being followed, sworn at or shouted at. Before 1980, the American job-site was relatively safe and there were not many people concerned with violence in the workplace. Unfortunately, this has changed. Workplace violence has become a serious issue, especially since many people spend most of their time at work. Today, television and radio bombard the public with graphic depictions of violent workplace scenes. Violence occurs everywhere and it has even trickled ... ...s.† http://www.all-biz.com/articles/violence.htm U.S. Office of Personnel Management Author: Mary P. Tyler., A Manager’s Guide: Traumatic Incidents at the Workplace., 1993. Workplace Violence Department of Labor, Occupational Health and Safety Administration, Resources on the web. Information on Workplace Violence, guidelines and training materials are available. http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/workplaceviolence Workplace Violence- a Bibliography Books dealing with workplace violence, prevention, protection, management, containment, liability, etc., are listed here with hyperlinks to Amazon.Com where they can be reviewed and ordered online. http://www.growing.com/accolade/viol/w_place.htm In addition, portions of a group project, in which I participated in, was used as a reference for completing this report.

A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams :: A Streetcar Named Desire Essays

A Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams in 1947, has been called the best play written by an American. The setting of the play, New Orleans, creates a blended mood of decadence, nostalgia, and sensuality. The plot of the play comes about through the conflict between a man and his sister-in-law who comes to live at his house with he and his wife. Stanley and Blanche immediately capture the attention of the audience through Williams' portrayal of the intensely strong willed characters.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Play takes place in a two-story apartment in the heart of New Orleans. Eunice lives on the top apartment and Stella and Stanley live on the bottom apartment. The set has a classic Creole ambiance. The props in the play as with the rest of the costumes, and set are based on pieces from the 1940à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. The props were very realistic, and very durable due to the fact that they had to stand up to Stanleyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s outburst. The props were very ordinary to show the humble life of Stanley and Stella in 1940à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s New Orleans.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The costumes in the play reflected the plot of the play and gave insight into the characters that wore them. Stella and Stanley had simple costumes to reflect their simple impoverished life. Blanche outfits reflected her southern bell attitude, and set her apart from the rest of the characters so you could focus in on her. It showed that she like the best and would do anything for it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The lighting set the mood for the play. In key scenes the lighting added another dimension to show the conflict and hardship in the story.

Pdhpe Factors Affecting Performance

HSC Core 2: Factors Affecting Performance Chapter 5: How does training affect performance? Energy systems * alactacid system (ATP/PC) * lactic acid system * aerobic system Energy Systems The human body requires energy for its organs to function, internal processes to take place and to power muscular contractions for movement * Energy in the human body is stored in the chemical bonds that join atoms and is released when needed * The transformation of food, chemical energy, into energy that the muscles can use, mechanical energy, is the role of energy systems * Chemical energy is energy stored in bonds between atoms * Mechanical energy is motion or movement energy * Energy provided by food is measured in kilojoules (kJ) Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a high energy compound that stores and transfers energy to body cells * The ATP compound consists of a large molecule call adenosine and three smaller molecules called phosphate, each phosphate is held together by high energy bonds * When the last or terminal phosphate is detached, the energy stored in this bond becomes available and is transferred to the cells * Energy from ATP allows the fibres in muscles to contract, enabling movement * Once the phosphate molecule has detached it is referred to as Adenosine diphosphate * Resynthesis is the process of restoring ATP to its former state The three systems that make ATP available are: * The alactacid system (ATP/PC) * The lactic acid system (glycolytic system) * The aerobic system (oxygen system) * The alactacid and lactic acid systems are anaerobic pathways as they do not use oxygen for the resynthensis of ATP * The aerobic system uses oxygen for the resynthesis of ATP and is oxygen dependent * Although the energy systems are examined in isolation, they function together, the predominant energy system is the one being most utilised at that point in time Alactacid system (ATP/PC) ATP supplies within the body are only large enough to enable one explosive muscular contr action and lasts 1-2 seconds * Further muscular contraction relies on creatine phosphate breaking down, which provides energy for the phosphate to combine with the adenosine diphosphate to once again form adenosine triphosphate * Creatine phosphate (CP) is an energy rich compound that serves as an alternative energy source for muscular contraction * CP supplies are exhausted in 10-12 seconds and takes only 2 minutes to be fully restored in the presence of oxygen * We have about 90 grams of ATP stored and about 120 grams of CP stored * There are no fatiguing by-products of this system, however heat is produced Lactic acid system Glycogen is the storage form of glucose and is used for fuel when blood glucose levels decline * Glycolysis is the process of using glycogen or glucose as fuel * Anaerobic glycolysis is a process where glucose is broken down in the absence of oxygen to produce energy * Lactic acid is produced because insufficient oxygen results in the partial breakdown of glu cose, providing quick but limited ATP production, as well as the by-product lactic acid * As sufficient oxygen is not available during intense exercise, lactic acid levels rise and continue to rise as intensity increases * The fuel of the lactic acid system is carbohydrate in the form of glucose in the blood and stored glycogen * It is the dominant system used for intense activity performed between 30 seconds and 2/3 minutes * Excessively high levels of lactic acid prevent the muscle fibres from contracting and result in a rapid deterioration in performance * Lactate is processed in the mitochondria in the muscle cells, most is converted to carbon dioxide and water and some is converted to fuel * The lactate threshold is the point at which lactic acid accumulates rapidly in the blood * Lactic acid diffuses from the muscle and into the bloodstream taking between 30 minutes and an hour * Metabolism is the sum f all chemical processes within cells that transform substances into energy * A mole is the gram-molecular weight of a substance Aerobic system * Aerobic metabolism is the breakdown of fuel in the presence of oxygen to produce energy (ATP) * Glucose, fat and sometimes protein are used * As glycogen supplies are exhausted, fat becomes the dominant energy source * Fatigue occurs because fat requires more oxygen for metabolism than carbohydrate * It is the dominant energy system for exercise from about 2 minutes onwards * By products produced are carbon dioxide and water * To recover, it may take days to restore glycogen reserves depending on intensity and duration * E. g. triathlon, marathon, 1km swim, 10km run Types of training and training methods aerobic, e. g. continuous, fartlek, aerobic interval, circuit * anaerobic, e. g. anaerobic interval * flexibility, e. g. static, ballistic, PNF, dynamic * strength training, e. g. free/fixed weights, elastic, hydraulic Types of training and training methods The four types of training are: * Aerobic training * Anae robic training * Flexibility training * Strength training Aerobic training Uses the aerobic system as the main source of energy supply Training types include: * Continuous training * Fartlek training * Aerobic interval training * Circuit training Continuous training: * Involves sustained effort for over 20 minutes e. g. jogging, cycling and erobics * Heart rate must be within the target zone of 65%-85% max heart rate to enable physiological adaptations to take place * Long, slow distance training focuses on distance rather than speed Fartlek training: * In fartlek training, participants vary their speed and the terrain on which they are working, engaging both aerobic and anaerobic energy systems * Fartlek training is a combination of interval and continuous training because of its use of variations in speed and intensity * Intensity is varied through the use of bursts of speed, running up and down hills, group running with changing leadership and changing terrain types * Fartlek tra ining is particularly beneficial for games players who are frequently changing intensity e. g. rugby, basketball and soccer Aerobic interval training: Aerobic interval training involves alternating sessions of work and recovery * The short rest period does not allow enough time for full recovery and thus maintains stress on the aerobic system Circuit training: * Circuit training requires participants to move from one ‘station’ to another, performing specified exercises at each until they complete the circuit * Can either work aerobic or anaerobic system depending on intensity and duration * Participants aim to complete the circuit in the shortest possible time Anaerobic training * Anaerobic training uses high intensity work coupled with limited recovery to develop the anaerobic energy systems * Generally lasts less than 2 minutes and is of a high intensity * Develops greater tolerance for the lactic acid created Short anaerobic training lasts less than 25 seconds and de velops the ATP/PC system, medium anaerobic training lasts from 25 seconds to one minute and develops the lactic acid system and long anaerobic training lasts one to two minutes and develops lactic acid / aerobic systems Anaerobic interval: * Is sprint training over short distances using maximal effort with rests Flexibility training * Flexibility is the range through which joints and body parts are able to move * Flexibility is essential for prevention of injury, muscular relaxation, decreasing soreness and tightness following exercise and increased range of movement, maximising performance * Flexibility is affected by factors such as age, sex, temperature, exercise frequency and specificity * The four common types of stretching are static, dynamic, ballistic and PNF Static stretching: During static stretching the muscle is slowly and smoothly stretched to a position of no discomfort which is held for about 30 seconds * Static stretching is safe and should be used extensively in the rehabilitation of injury and cool-down phase of training Ballistic stretching: * Ballistic stretching involves repeated movements such as swinging and bouncing to gain extra stretch * This form of stretching activates the stretch reflex which is an involuntary muscle contraction that prevents fibre damage if muscles are being lengthened beyond their normal range * Ballistic stretching should only be used by advanced athletes and even then should follow a thorough warm-up and another form of stretching due to the ability of the force and momentum of the movement to be potentially harmful Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching: PNF stretching involves lengthening a muscle against a resistance provided by a partner * It is aimed at stretching and strengthening the muscle in a safe environment, can be used as a warm up, cool down or in rehabilitation * The progressive cycle involves stretching the muscle group using a static stretch, isometrically contracting the mu scle in the stretched position against the resistance of the partner for about 10 seconds, relaxing in the lengthened position for about 5 seconds, then repeating the static stretch and isometric contraction Dynamic stretching: * Dynamic stretching, commonly used in warm ups due to its attempt to imitate the movements of the game, uses speed and momentum with movements experienced in a game to increase flexibility * Dynamic stretching is continuous but the end position is not held Strength training Strength training is a form of training where the muscular contraction is resisted by calculated loads, thereby building the strength of the muscle * Strength is the ability of a muscle or muscle group to exert force against a resistance * Muscle hypertrophy is a term that refers to muscle growth together with an increase in the size of muscle cells * Strength training programs can be used for building strength, developing power, developing muscular endurance, injury rehabilitation and ge neral health benefits * There are many ways of creating resistance or an opposing force including free weights, weight machines, elastic bands and hydraulic resistance * Isotonic programs involves raising/lowering and pulling / pushing against a resistance to contract and lengthen muscle fibres * Isometric programs involve applying a resistance and using exercises in which the muscle length does not change * Repetitions are performed quickly to increase power and slowly to increase strength Free weights: Used to develop all muscles in a group at the same time * Use of barbells, dumbbells and hand weights * Most resistance is encountered when initiating the movement * Good technique is required to avoid injury * Include squat, bench press, bicep curl, calf raise, upright row and sit ups with weight Fixed / Weight machines: * Resistance is provided by stacked weights which can be adjusted by changing pin placements * Weight machines are particularly beneficial for isolating specific m uscles for development e. g. pec machine * There is less chance of injury than free weights as tracks restrict the way each movement can be performed Resistance bands (elastic): The bands are anchored by an immovable object or part of the body, and are stretched, creating a resistance * Most of the resistance is experienced at the end of the movement because this is where the elastic material is under the greatest tension * Is a cheap and portable form of resistance training Hydraulic resistance: * Resistance is felt through the entire movement and also with the corresponding movement to return it to its starting point * Greatest resistance is felt when performing movements at higher speeds Principles of training * progressive overload * specificity * reversibility * variety * training thresholds * warm up and cool down Principles of training * Effective training requires the implementation of a number of important principles Progressive overload The overload principle implies that gains in fitness or adaptations occur only when the training load is greater than normal and is progressively increased as improvements in fitness occur * Training produces certain physiological changes that allow the body to work at a higher level of intensity * These adaptations will not take place if the load or resistance is either too small or too big * A resistance that is too high results in the onset of fatigue as well as possible injury and the discontinuation of the activity * Progressive overload in aerobic training results in increased cardiac output and increased oxygen uptake * The application of it to strength training will result in muscle hypertrophy which is directly related to an increase in strength * In endurance programs the load increases need to be small and the adaptations take place slowly * Fastest gains are made in flexibility, then in strength Specificity * The specificity principle states that the greatest gains are made when activity in the training pr ogram resembles the movements in the game or activity * This principle is particularly important when considering the development of energy systems, muscle groups and components of fitness * Metabolic specificity refers to identifying the energy system or systems most appropriate to the activity and developing these systems through related training procedures Reversibility * The effects of training programs are reversible * This is referred to as the detraining effect Gains in aerobic fitness are gradually lost if training ceases, in strength programs losses are experienced quicker and even quicker in flexibility programs * If big gains have been made during training, greater losses will follow when training stops Variety * Repetition without variation can lead to boredom, injury and the overuse of individual muscles * General endurance, strength and power can be developed using a variety of techniques including swimming, plyometrics and resistance programs to supplement training * Plyometrics refers to a special range of exercises in which a muscle is lengthened using an eccentric contraction, followed by a rapid concentric contraction Training thresholds For improvement to occur we must work at a level of intensity that causes adaptations to take place * The magnitude of improvement is approximately proportional to the threshold level at which we work * The aerobic threshold refers to a level of exercise intensity that is sufficient to cause a training effect, is approximately 65 – 70% of MHR * The aerobic training zone is the level of intensity lying between the aerobic and anaerobic thresholds * The anaerobic threshold or lactate inflection point is characterised by lactic acid accumulation and fatigue * The principle can be applied to resistance training, with high reps being used to develop muscular endurance and high resistance and low reps being used to develop strength Warm-up and cool-down * The warm up reduces the risk of injury, increases jo int mobility and muscle length, increases body temperature, mentally prepares the athlete for training, stimulates the cardiorespiratory system * The warm up should last for a minimum of 10 minutes, lasting up to 40 minutes where explosive movements such as sprinting are required * The warm up should include general aerobic activity e. g. ogging, specific flexibility exercises, callisthenics which are repetitive movements performed on the spot such as push ups and star jumps and also skill rehearsal * The cool down minimises muscle stiffness and soreness, decrease body temperature slowly and disperses and metabolises lactic acid concentration * The cool down should include aerobic work of a decreasing intensity and stretching of muscle groups used Physiological adaptations in response to training * resting heart rate * stroke volume and cardiac output * oxygen uptake and lung capacity * haemoglobin level * muscle hypertrophy * effect on fast/slow twitch muscle fibres Physiological a daptations in response to training In response to training, the body makes adaptations or adjustments to the level of stress imposed on it * Although progressive improvements will be seen throughout a training program, it usually takes about 12 weeks to realise the entire benefits * Training will cause adaptations to a number of capacities, including resting heart rate, stroke volume and cardiac output, oxygen uptake and lung capacity, haemoglobin levels, muscle hypertrophy and fast and slow twitch muscle fibres Resting heart rate * Is the number of heart beats per minute while the body is at rest * The average untrained male has a resting heart rate of 70 to 75 BPM * Training can lower this to 30 – 40 BPM * Training can reduce RHR by about one BPM each week for the first few months of training * Low resting heart rates reflects larger cardiac hypertrophy which allows for a greater stroke volume Stroke volume * Stroke volume is the amount of blood ejected by the left ventricl e of he heart during a contraction, measured in mL / beat * Stroke volume is notably higher at maximal exercise following an endurance training program * This occurs because training causes the left ventricle to fill more completely during the diastole phase than it does in an untrained heart * There is also more blood in circulation following training due to an increase in blood plasma volume, meaning that more blood is able to enter the ventricle * Blood volume can increase by half a litre after only 8 days of endurance training * The increased oxygen available to the working muscles results in improved performance Cardiac output * Cardiac Output (Q) is the volume of blood ejected by the heart per minute, determined by multiplying heart rate by stroke volume * Untrained individuals may have a Q of 15 – 20 litres per minute, whereas trained athletes Q can range from 20 – 40 litres per minute due to a large increase in stroke volume * Q is generally regarded as maximum output when given Oxygen uptake Oxygen uptake is the ability of the working muscles to use the oxygen being delivered * The most significant improvements in response to aerobic training are in oxygen uptake * As we begin to exercise the mitochondria in the cells use more oxygen in the provision of energy * Maximal oxygen uptake, or VO2 max, is regarded as the best indicator of cardiorespiratory endurance because it indicates the maximal amount of oxygen that muscles can absorb and use at that level of work * A high VO2 max indicates a superior oxygen delivery system * Measurements are expressed in millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of bodyweight per minute (mL/kg/min) * Average VO2 max levels are about 35 mL/kg/min and can be increased up to very high levels of even 80 or 90 mL/kg/min * A 15-20% increase in oxygen uptake is typical for the average inactive person who applies the FITT principle for a six-month period * Increases in oxygen uptake and VO2 max come from an increase in mitochondria numbers and their size as well as a possible increase due to increase in blood volume Lung capacity * Lung capacity is the amount of air that the lungs can hold * Total lung capacity is about 6000mL is males and slightly less in females * Lung capacity changes little with training, however it does cause some increase at maximal levels of exercise due to lower levels of residual volume Haemoglobin level Haemoglobin is the substance in blood that binds to oxygen and transports it around the body, it is contained in the red blood cells of the body * Each red blood cell contains about 250 million haemoglobin molecules * The average individual has about 14 grams of haemoglobin per 100 mL of blood * Most oxygen in the blood is transported by the haemoglobin in the red blood cells * They absorb oxygen at the lungs very quickly and carry this to the working muscles + organs * Haemoglobin levels increase roughly 20% as a result of training predominantly due to an increase in blo od volume as this increases oxygen-carrying capacity * Haemoglobin levels are also increased through altitude training as well as consuming a high iron diet Muscle hypertrophy Muscle hypertrophy is an increase in the size of a muscle or the cross-sectional area of the muscle as well as an increase in the size of muscle cells * Hypertrophy is induced by training programs that stimulate activity in muscle fibres causing them to grow * Without stimulation, muscle fibres can reduce in size, known as muscular atrophy which is a wasting away or decrease in size * The growth in the size of the muscle is a direct result from an increase in actin and myosin filament which produce muscle action, myofibrils which are the contractile elements of skeletal muscle and connective tissue which surrounds and supports the muscle * Muscle hypertrophy can occur in 4 – 6 weeks * Training cannot change the type of muscle fibre, only the cross sectional area * Hypertrophy is more easily achieved in males due to a higher concentration of testosterone Effect on fast and slow twitch muscle fibres * The two types of muscle fibres are slow-twitch or type 1 muscle fibres (red fibres) which contract slowly and for long periods of time, and fast witch or type 2 muscle fibres (white fibres) which reach peak tension quickly and are used for explosive movements * Most individuals have approximately even numbers of red and white fibres, while some individuals genetically have higher proportions of one type or the other * The bulk of the work is performed by muscles most suited to the specific type of activity * Aerobic training causes hypertrophy of ST muscle fibres, an increase in the number of capillaries surrounding muscle fibres which improves gaseous exchange, increases number and size of mitochondria which produce ATP, increases Myoglobin content which transports oxygen from the cell membrane to the mitochondria and level of oxidative enzymes increases * There are two types of fast twitch fibres, FTa which can use both aerobic and anaerobic metabolism and FTb which uses only anaerobic metabolism * Training intensity can alter the relative proportions of subtypes in FT muscle fibres * Anaerobic training causes an increase in the efficiency and supply of ATP / PC, an increase in glycolytic enzymes, hypertrophy of FT muscle fibres and an increase in lactic acid tolerance Chapter 6: Psychology and performance * Research continues to suggest that there is significant potential to improve performance through mental training Motivation * positive and negative * intrinsic and extrinsic Motivation Motivation is an internal state that activates, directs and sustains behaviour towards achieving a particular goal * Motivation is a force that can be manipulated to help an athlete achieve their full potential * Increasing the level of motivation in athletes can be achieved through recognising individual effort, supporting belief in one’s ability, instilling a good wo rk ethic and providing positive reinforcement and encouragement * The level of motivation we are able to achieve is affected by self-determination, parental pressure, response to support of others, money and the challenge Positive motivation * Positive motivation occurs when an individual’s performance is driven by revious reinforcing behaviours * The athlete is conditioned to perform in expectation of the reward * Positive motivation relies on continual self-reinforcement and / or reinforcement by others such as a coach, family, friends or spectators * Positive motivation is more effective than negative motivation and also more sustainable Negative motivation * Negative motivation is characterised by an improvement in performance out of fear of the consequences of not performing to expectations * Negative motivation can cause a player to not take risks, be indecisive and lack creativity * While negative motivation can work on an irregular basis, in the long term it can destr oy confidence, initiative and belief in oneself Intrinsic motivation Intrinsic motivation is a self-propelling force that encourages athletes to achieve because they have an interest in a task or activity and they enjoy learning and performing the movements * Intrinsic motivation is the preferred type of motivation because personal reward and self-satisfaction are much stronger driving forces than anything imposed from outside * Results in a very high level of concentration where the individual is completely absorbed in the task Extrinsic motivation * Extrinsic or external motivation is motivation that comes from sources outside a person, such as a coach or parent * Extrinsic motivation focuses on the product or what can be gained * Is seen in forms such as praise, material rewards and financial remuneration * Intrinsic motivation is more sustainable Anxiety and arousal * trait and state anxiety * sources of stress * optimum arousal Anxiety and Arousal * Anxiety is predominantly a p sychological process characterised by fear or apprehension in anticipation of confronting a situation perceived to be potentially threatening * Any sporting contest can give rise to anxiety Anxiety can also be entrenched in expectations, especially if one feels that they cannot be fulfilled * Arousal is a physiological process characterised by increased heart rate, tightness of muscles, increased blood supply and higher respiration rate Trait anxiety * Trait anxiety refers to a general level of stress that is characteristic of each individual * It varies according to how individuals have conditioned themselves to respond to and manage the stress State anxiety * State anxiety is characterised by a state of heightened emotions that develop in response to specific fear or danger * A certain level of anxiety might be considered beneficial in sports where aggression is a natural outlet e. g. ugby * However it can hinder performance in fine motor skilled sports e. g. archery Sources of st ress * Stress is the non-specific response of the body to a demand placed on it * It can be felt by participants in all sports * We feel stress building within us, produced by adrenaline which readies the body for action * Stress is characterised by increased blood supply, more oxygen to the lungs, increased glucose production, increased sweat production and tightened muscles * Factors that produce stress are called stressors and can develop from, in sporting situations, personal pressure, competition pressure and social pressure Optimum arousal Arousal is a physiological response and can be experienced prior to and during a performance * While anxiety is primarily a psychological state, arousal is essentially a physiological process * Arousal level can either facilitate or hinder the execution of specific skills * The individual performs a skill most successfully when the level of arousal is optimal for that particular task and that individual * Low arousal is optimal for tasks inv olving few muscle groups e. g. darts, as opposed to high arousal which is optimal for activities involving large body movements e. g. running Psychological strategies to enhance motivation and manage anxiety * concentration/attention skills (focusing) * mental rehearsal/visualisation/imagery * relaxation techniques * goal-settingPsychological strategies to enhance motivation and manage anxiety * Uncontrolled anxiety can potentially have a negative impact on performance, but a complete lack of anxiety can undermine effort and achievement * Athletes are able to use strategies including concentration / attention skills, mental rehearsal / visualisation / imagery, relaxation techniques and goal-setting to ensure their mental and physical energy is channelled in the right direction Concentration / attention skills (focusing) * Concentration is the ability to link movement and awareness to the extent that the individual can focus on doing, as opposed to thinking about doing * When an indi vidual focuses on the task or activity, their thoughts relate to execution * Concentration can be improved through training that emphasises the process rather than the outcome * Through developing skills that block out distractions, using routines, avoiding negative thoughts and utilising self-talk an athlete is able to gain greater concentration Mental rehearsal / visualisation / imagery Mental rehearsal is the commonly used technique of picturing the performance or skill before executing it * It has been shown to enhance not only competition performance, but also the acquisition and building of motor skills * Mental rehearsal requires vivid, realistic pictures at performance speed in the mind and a sense of experiencing the movement * Mental rehearsal can improve performance as it focuses the mind on the correct execution of the skill, provides a clear idea of what has to be done and heightens concentration Relaxation techniques * Relaxation techniques are a series of techniques t hat seek to control the body’s response to stress * Relaxation techniques may assist the athlete in control of arousal * Techniques commonly used by athletes include progressive muscular relaxation, mental relaxation, self-hypnosis, meditation and centred breathing Goal-setting Goals are targets that we direct our efforts towards and can relate to either performance or behaviour * They provide athletes with a reason to persevere with training over extended periods * The types of goals include short-term goals which can be achieved in a limited period of time, long-term goals which can be achieved only over a long period of time, behavioural goals which relate to improved behavioural expectations and performance goals which pertain to the athlete’s desired level of success Chapter 7: Nutrition, recovery strategies and performance Nutritional considerations * pre-performance, including carbohydrate loading * during performance * post-performance Nutritional consideration s Programs designed to improve performance must be supported by solid nutritional practices * The two most important nutritional considerations are the roles of carbohydrates and hydration * The type of food consumed prior to competition directly affects the quantity of energy available * Hydration involves supplying sufficient water to the body’s cells * Fluid is important because it is the body’s medium for cooling heated muscles and assists in temperature regulation by transporting heat to the outside of the body * A deficiency in fuel or fluid supply contributes to a substandard performance and can place the health of the athlete at risk Pre-performance (carbohydrate loading) * Food consumed prior to activity is useful only if digested and its energy and nutrients are made available to where they are required in the body * Foods high in fat, protein and fibre such as meats require longer periods to digest * Athletes are advised to eat mostly complex carbs e. g. pas ta, cereal, fruits and bread * Food ingested before a performance has the potential to cause discomfort * The appropriate quantity of food elates to the type of competition * A normal meal 3 – 4 hours before competition is usually appropriate, as the time period prior to competition becomes shorter, food intake should be in the form of snacks and liquid preparations * People competing in competition or events should drink adequate fluid in the preceding days, especially in the hours prior * Carbohydrate loading is a technique used to maximise the body’s storage of glycogen in preparation for a high-intensity endurance activity of more than 90 minutes – can improve performance by about 2% – 3% and delay fatigue * Muscle saturation of glycogen is best achieved through a balanced diet high in carbohydrates especially complex carbs and tapering of training for 2 to 4 days before competition * About 6 – 8 cups of water is needed per day, which is about 1. 5 – 2L of water, this amount is needed even before you take into account other factors such as heavy exercise, a dry or hot environment or being overweight. During performance Endurance events, particularly in hot and possibly humid conditions, can have a significant impact on the body’s fuel and fluid supplies * The need for carbohydrate and electrolyte replacement depends on a number of factors including intensity, duration, humidity, clothing type and individual sweat rates * Electrolytes are salts and minerals, such as sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium, that are important for many body functions such as chemical breakdown and nerve conduction, electrolytes are lost through perspiration during exercise * It is suggested that 200 – 300 mL of fluid be taken in every 15-20 minutes during exercise * It is especially important to be well hydrated when you are physically active as a loss of one or more per cent of your body weight due to sweating can lead to muscle cramps, dizziness and fatigue * Hydration is essential for heat dispersion, temperature regulation, chemical reactions producing energy, waste disposal through sweating and to allow blood to flow to major organs which is essential in sports performance * When you have lost an excessive amount of bodily fluid and are dehydrated you may experience thirst, discomfort, headaches, cramps, decreased blood pressure, dizziness, fainting, constipation and fatigue * When you are dehydrated, your body still tries to maintain its cardiac output; the amount of blood that is pumped around the body by the heart, by compensating for the loss of fluid by increasing the heart rate and constricting the blood vessels to try to maintain blood pressure and blood flow to organs * Dehydration is an excessive loss of water Post-performance A post-performance nutritional plan aims to return the body to its pre-event state as quickly as possible * Proactive recovery means that refuelling and rehydr ation begins immediately and continues for 8-12 hours following the performance * Depleted muscle and liver glycogen stores need to be replaced immediately through an intake of food and drink high in carbohydrates with a high glycaemic index * The glycaemic index is a ranking system for carbohydrates based on how they affect blood sugar level * Rehydration needs to take place to replace fluids and electrolytes lost during the event * Active rest is encouraged as it enhances the manufacture of red blood cells, new proteins and specific cellular components damaged by stress-related movements Supplementation * vitamins/minerals * protein * caffeine * creatine products Supplementation Dietary supplementation is found in many forms, including vitamins and minerals, protein, caffeine and creatine products * Supplements may be of little value if the diet is already well balanced in terms of nutritional requirements Vitamins * Vitamins are essential to maintaining bodily functions * Vitamin s are required in only very small quantities in the body * A balanced diet is important because food is the main source of vitamins * The body is unable to manufacture vitamins * Vitamin supplementation should not be a response to a desire for improved performance, but rather arise out of special needs e. g. ill health * The intake of excessive quantities of vitamins A and D may contribute to muscle and joint pain and headaches due to the body’s ability to store them Minerals Minerals are essential for the body to function properly, but do not provide energy * They are found in the body and are necessary for it to function adequately * Iron and calcium are the two minerals that are most commonly deficient in athletes * Athletes should look to dietary sources rather than supplementation to gain adequate minerals Protein * Protein’s primary importance to the body is its structural role in holding the cells together and in the growth, repair and maintenance of body tissue * High levels of protein are needed by strength athletes, endurance athletes in heavy training and adolescents undergoing a growth spurt * However changes in the dietary balance are the preferred method of supplementation Caffeine Caffeine does appear to improve cognitive processes, such as alertness * Caffeine does not appear to enhance performance in short-term high intensity activities such as sprinting * Diuretic properties of caffeine suggest that it should be avoided as it may contribute to dehydration * A diuretic is a drug that increases the amount of fluid (water and urine) passing from the body * The only evidence of caffeine enhancing performance is that it may assist specific metabolic processes, enhancing endurance performance * An ergogenic aid is a substance or practice that improves or is believed to improve physical performance Creatine products The body has two sources of creatine, production by body cells and food intake, particularly from meat * It is important in making energy available to sustain short duration explosive activity such as weight-lifting and sprinting * Creatine cannot be stored in the body * Muscle hypertrophy is more easily achieved when training is assisted by creatine supplementation, possibly related to the increase in weight it causes * There is little, if any benefit of supplementation to enhancing performance Recovery strategies * physiological strategies, e. g. cool down, hydration * neural strategies, e. g. hydrotherapy, massage * tissue damage strategies, e. g. cryotherapy * psychological strategies, e. g. relaxation Recovery strategies Recovery strategies aim to ensure that the athlete is able to resume normal training and competition within the time span of the training program * Active rest is still regarded as the most beneficial form of recovery * Rest allows both physiological and psychological revitalisation to take its course * During rest, muscles repair and rebuild while energy and fluid levels are res tored to pre-event levels * Short-term recovery requires activities such as cool-down following training, together with low intensity exercise to promote soft tissue repair and disperse lactic acid * Recovery strategies can be categorised as physiological, neural, tissue damage or psychological Physiological strategies (cool down, nutritional plan – hydration + fuel recovery) * Physiological strategies need to focus on the removal of metabolic by-products and a nutritional plan to replace lost fluids and energy-rich nutrients * An effective cool-down is the recommended manner for removal of metabolic by-products * The purpose of a cool-down following exercise is to gradually reduce heart rate and metabolism to the pre-exercise state while also assisting in the removal of waste products including lactic acid, which contributes to muscle stiffness and soreness * It is also designed to restore a number of other elevated body functions, such as ventilation rate, blood distributio n and adrenaline levels back to normal * The cool-down should consist of 5-10 minutes of walking / jogging / slow swimming, with the aim of returning the body to pre-exercise temperature * Static stretching is also important * Vigorous or sustained exercise that is not concluded with a cool-down may result in blood pooling, causing dizziness * A nutritional plan encompassing fluid recovery and fuel recovery is paramount * Drinking 600mL of water for every half kilogram of weight lost during exercise is ecommended * During the first 30 minutes to two hours following exercise the muscles are most receptive to glycogen enrichment and this is the best time for fuel recovery * A high carbohydrate diet is recommended during exercise recovery Neural strategies (hydrotherapy, massage) * Neural strategies such as hydrotherapy and massage aim to relax muscles that have been fatigued or damaged as a result of high intensity exercise * Strenuous exercise impacts on the central nervous system an d this may contribute to fatigue * Hydrotherapy involves the use of water to relax, soothe pain and assist metabolic recovery * Water provides support for movements, and eliminates jarring and straining movements that are associated with land drills * Typical hydrotherapy methods involve use of steam rooms, spas, underwater massage and heated swimming pools * Sports massage focuses on body and mental relaxation It is important as exercise induced tension can cause stress on joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles * Post-event massage claims to help relieve swelling, reduce muscle tension, assist in eliminating toxic by-products, promote flexibility and prepare the athlete for the next training session Tissue damage strategies (cryotherapy) * Cryotherapy involves the use of cooling to treat injury or quicken recovery from performances, particularly those that involve collisions and / or sustained intensity * Ice is the most used form of cryotherapy because of its ability to slow down the tissue inflammatory process, preventing the build-up of waste Psychological strategies (relaxation) Use of psychological strategies represents an important phase in emotional and possibly spiritual recovery * Mind relaxing activities such as reading, listening to music, and watching movies or television are helpful and used by most athletes * The benefits of other more specialised psychological techniques such as progressive muscular relaxation, flotation, meditation, visualisation, centred breathing and positive self-talk are realised if practised frequently Chapter 8: Skill and performance * Skill is the ability to consistently perform movements with control and precision * The acquisition of skill is a gradual development process that requires that our cognitive (thinking) processes work with our physical abilities to learn how to perform movements that previously were unfamiliar to us * Acquisition is gaining possession of something Stages of skill acquisition * cognitive * associative * autonomous Stages of skill acquisition The stages of skill acquisition can be categorised into the cognitive or planning stage, the associative or practice stage and the autonomous or automatic stage Cognitive stage * Cognitive refers to mental processing of information, thinking and understanding * The fundamental requirement here is that the athlete gains an understanding of the task required * The learner may experience error, awkwardness and some disorientation * Positive learning should be reinforced and encouraged Associative stage * Associative means connecting or linking ideas * The associative stage is identified by a specific emphasis on practice * Errors still occur, but are smaller and less frequent than in the cognitive stage * A sense of fluency or smoothness develops as the learner’s kinaesthesis improves Autonomous stage Autonomous means being in full control of actions so they become automatic * Temporal patterning is developed, where their move ment has a characteristic fluency as the sub-routines sequence and blend in aesthetically pleasing motions Characteristics of the learner, e. g. personality, heredity, confidence, prior experience, ability Characteristics of the learner * The speed with which learners are able to acquire certain motor skills depends on a number of factors, of which most are inherent features * Some characteristics of learners that affect the rate of learning are personality, heredity, confidence, prior experience and ability Personality Personality refers to an individual’s characteristic way of behaving * From a motor learning point of view, certain aspects of personality tend to be more favourable with certain learning environments * Attributes affecting learning include cooperativeness, willingness to listen, determination, enthusiasm, dedication, level of motivation, aggressiveness and willingness to take risks and learn * Traits are characteristics or observable features of a person Here dity * Heredity refers to genetic characteristics inherited from our parents * Important hereditary characteristics are the relative percentage of fast-twitch to slow-twitch muscle fibres, somatotype, gender, height and conceptual ability * Somatotype is a person’s body type or shape, with ectomorphic referring to linearity, mesmorphic referring to muscularity and endomorphic referring to roundness Confidence * Self-confidence is a firm belief in one’s own ability * Confidence develops from experiencing success in learning situations * Confidence leads to self-belief Prior experience It is often easier to learn a new skill if similar movements have already been successfully acquired * Transfer of learning is an important reality in the acquisition of new skills * Lateral transfer is the transfer from one task to another similar task e. g. forehand in ping pong and tennis * Vertical transfer is mastering a lower order task as a prerequisite for something much more diffi cult e. g. kicking using a kickboard and freestyle Ability * Ability is the ease with which an individual is able to perform a movement or routine * Ability incorporates a range of factors, such as sense acuity, perception, reaction time and intelligence * Acuity is sharpness The learning environment nature of the skill (open, closed, gross, fine, discrete, serial, continuous, self-paced, externally paced) * the performance elements (decision-making, strategic and tactical development) * practice method (massed, distributed, whole, part) * feedback (internal, external, concurrent, delayed, knowledge of results, knowledge of performance) The learning environment * The learning environment refers to everything outside the learner and embraces the skill itself, the situation in which it is practised, information from coaches and even the influence of surrounding weather conditions The nature of skill * Skills are commonly classified as open or closed, gross motor or fine motor, discret e, serial or continuous, and self-paced or externally paced Open and closed skills Open skills occur in an environment that is unpredictable and frequently changing * Closed skills occur in an environment that is stable and predictable * The closed environment is much more conducive to skill learning because the learner is not distracted by other factors * Skills can be placed along a continuum from closed to open Gross motor and fine motor skills * Gross motor skills require the use of large muscle groups for execution * Fine motor skills require the use of only small muscle groups to perform the movement Discrete, serial and continuous skills * Skills can be classified as discrete, serial or continuous according to where they begin and end * Discrete skills have a distinct beginning and end that can be identified e. g. a forward role * Serial skills involve a equence of smaller movements that are assembled to make a total skill e. g. a layup in basketball * Continuous skills have no distinct beginning or end e. g. swimming Self-paced and externally paced skills * Self-paced skills are movements for which the performer determines the timing and speed of execution e. g. bowling in cricket * Externally paced skills are movements for which an external source controls the timing e. g. batting in cricket Performance elements * The performance elements are decision making, strategic development and tactical development * The game-centred approach aims to focus on the whole game and all components Decision making Productive decision making is best achieved through observation, questioning, whole, part, whole approach, variation and creativity Strategic and tactic development * Strategic understanding refers to the way we play, where we should be at a particular time and what to do * Tactical awareness is about utilising ways of gaining an advantage over an opponent * Strategic and tactical development is built on the principles of technical efficiency, understanding and skilful execution Practice methods * The learning environment is further affected by the practice methods or training systems and routines designed to teach particular skills Massed and distributed practice Distributed practice (or spaced practice) involves a broken practice session, with the intervals of rest or alternative activities being longer than the practice intervals * Distributed practice works best when the performer lacks interest, the task is difficult, motivation is low or the task causes fatigue * Massed practice involves a continuous practice session, with the rest intervals being shorter than the practice intervals * Massed practice works best when performers are highly motivated and fresh Whole and part practice * The whole practice method is applied when a skill is practised in its entirety * The part practice method is applied when a skill is broken into smaller components and each discrete sub-skill is practised separately * Whole-part-whole practice is a c ombination of both methods Feedback Feedback is the information provided to the learner about the nature or result of their performance * The many types of feedback include internal, external, concurrent, delayed, knowledge of results and knowledge of performance Internal (or intrinsic) and external (or extrinsic) feedback * Internal feedback occurs as a normal consequence of performing a skill and is received through the body’s proprioceptive mechanisms or senses * External feedback is all feedback other than that which occurs as a normal consequence of performing a skill * Augmented feedback, a type of external feedback, is supplementary information that is not given at the time that the skill is performed e. g. video analysis Concurrent (or continuous) and delayed feedback * Concurrent feedback is received during the performance of a skill and it is relayed throughout the body by the proprioceptive mechanism * Delayed feedback is received after the skill has been executed e. g. waiting for the result of a basketball shot Knowledge of results and knowledge of performance Knowledge of results is information about the outcome of a movement, it is always external and may come from a coach or judges for example * Knowledge of performance is information about the pattern of the movement during execution, it gives feedback on the quality of the execution of the skill Assessment of skill and performance * characteristics of skilled performers, e. g. kinaesthetic sense, anticipation, consistency, technique * objective and subjective performance measures * validity and reliability of tests * personal versus prescribed judging criteria Assessment of skill and performance Characteristics of skilled performers * The movements of the skilled performer have certain observable qualities including kinaesthetic sense, anticipation, consistency and technique Kinaesthetic sense * Kinaesthesis (or kinaesthetic sense) refers to the system of sensitivity that exists in the muscles and their attachments Anticipation Skilled performers are better able to predict what may happen in specific situations Consistency * The skilled performer is able to perform the desired movement repeatedly Technique * Technique is a procedure or practical method applied to a particular task Objective and subjective performance methods * Measurement is the process of using numeric information to assess a particular physical ability * Subjective observation refers to a judgement of performance quality based on feelings, impressions or opinions rather than a measurement system * Objectivity is the extent to which a measure or test is independent of the observer Validity and reliability of tests Validity is the honesty of a test – that is, the degree to which it measures what it is supposed to measure * The validity of a test is enhanced by accuracy in prediction and ensuring test items contain the component being validated * Reliability refers to the degree of consiste ncy of a test – that is, the ability of the test and tester to produce the same results on successive occasions Personal versus prescribed judging criteria * Criteria refer to the standards / qualities used for judging the value of a performance * Personal criteria are the preconceived ideas or expectations that an individual brings to judge a performance * Prescribed criteria are established by a sports organisation or body and form the basis of assessment for competitions in that sport or activity * Appraisal is a judgement about the quality of something or somebody * The use of prescribed criteria seeks to absorb elements of subjectivity into a more objective framework